Gay Russian men are attempting to flee their country amid a wave of detention, torture, and killing in the country’s southern region of Chechnya. Now Lithuania has become one of the first countries to grant two of those persecuted refuge, while the United States denied their visa requests. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told Baltic News Service Wednesday that Lithuania granted visas to “two natives of Chechnya who suffered persecution because of their sexual orientation.” He called on other European Union countries to follow suit.